08 January 2010

Pancho, Jawbone and E Clampus Vitus

Last Updated: Wednesday, 12 August 2015 04:31 Nick Spark Hits: 4973

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There's a funny, wonderful California organization you may have heard of (or then again maybe not!) by the name of E Clampus Vitus.  This ancient and honorable order of pranksters is somewhat akin to the Moose or the Elks or Lions Clubs, only a bit goofier.  As they say on their website, "The early meetings of E Clampus Vitus in the California gold fields were devoted so completely to drinking and carousing that none of the Clampers was ever in any condition to keep minutes, let alone remember what had happened the next day!"  ECV was founded in the 1950s, and over the years ECV has had many famous members, including two California governors — Edmond G. Brown and a friend of Pancho's named Ronald Reagan.

Well, Pancho Barnes wasn't a member of E Clampus Vitus, but her own sense of vitality, humor and playfulness attracted the attention of this esteemed group.  So, the day after April Fools' day in the year 2000, the Peter Lebeck Chapter (named, incidentally, after some poor sucker who was killed and eaten by a grizzly bear) of the group decided to honor Pancho by commissioning a plaque in her honor.  The beautiful, red sandstone marker was placed at the Jawbone Canyon General Store.  This business, which is still operating in the present day, was originally owned by Pancho and Mac McKendry.  That's a story we didn't cover in any detail in the film, because it's not too great of a tale!  Pancho and Mac bought it after the Happy Bottom Riding Club went out of business, with hopes of starting a new fly-in guest ranch.  They even talked about building a desert marina complete with an artificial lake.  Unfortunately things did not work out as Pancho had hoped.  She couldn't attract her old friends at the new location, and her big schemes failed to take off as her bank account emptied.  Then she discovered that Mac was cheating on her with a former Riding Club hostess. . . an affair that would lead to their eventual divorce, and Pancho's surrender of the store to McKendry.

Well, that's an awful sad story!  But what I really wanted to write about, was the plaque which, if you will remember what I said a few paragraphs ago, was placed by this wonderfully fun-loving group ECV.  If you visit the store, you'll see it right out front in a place of honor.  It says many positive, wonderful things including that Pancho's "sense of adventure, integrity and independence is an example for all."  Amen they got that right!  But what I find funny is that the plaque also says that Pancho "toured the world as a lecturer honored by the Air Force and aviation organizations" like some sort of Lowell Thomas or Al Gore of the air.  Well truth be told, I don't think Pancho ventured outside the United States after 1930 (except for a few trips to Mexico), and probably never went farther than the state of Nevada after 1965.  As for "lectures", that's a nice thought but Pancho wasn't a university professor or one to mince words!   Perhaps better wording would have been something like, "she was honored by the Air Force and aviation organizations, and told them some wonderful stories and some jokes that were so dirty that mud looked clean." 

Then again, "toured the world as a lecturer" has a nice ring to it.  I am sure it made Pancho smile, the day that plaque was dedicated, wherever she was . . . knowing that the joke was on the pranksters of ECV!